02-03-2008, 08:37 AM
<b>Bharat Teri Ganga Maili </b>
Sudheendra Kulkarni
Posted online: Sunday, February 03, 2008 at 2313 hrs IST
I was in Rishikesh last week to spend a few days at Parmarth Niketan, an ashram run by Swami Chidanand Saraswati on the bank of the Holy Ganga. This visit added to the cherished memories of several life-transformative events associated with my previous pilgrimages to Hardwar, Rishikesh, Gangotri, Kedarnath, Badrinath, Hemkunt, all of them located in that spiritually enchanting part of India known as Dev Bhoomi, now carved out as the separate state of Uttarakhand.
The Ganga is believed to flow down from the Milky Way (Akash Ganga) and originate from the womb of the Himalayas at Gangotri. Can there be a better place to experience the eternalness and cosmic connection of India?
Jawaharlal Nehru, who was born in Prayag (Allahabad), the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati, wrote in his will: "The Ganga, especially, is the river of India, beloved of her people, round which are intertwined her memories, her hopes and fears, her songs of triumph, her victories and her defeats. She has been a symbol of India's age-long culture and civilisation, ever changing, ever flowing, and yet ever the same Ganga . . . the Ganga has been to me a symbol and a memory of the past of India, running into the present, and flowing into the great ocean of our future ..."
There is only one description in this incomparable tribute which, unfortunately, is no longer true. It is no more the " . . . the same Ganga," for both the river and the land around it are suffering from unimaginable environmental degradation. Plastic and litter have invaded its pristine environs, and the Ganga, after Hardwar, becomes increasingly maili (polluted) in the course of its onward journey. How can we Indians tolerate this disgrace to what Nehru rightly termed as a beloved symbol of our hoary culture and civilisation?
It is not just my visit to Rishikesh that sharpened my concern over this issue. Soon after my return, I learnt from K.N. Govindacharya, my friend, ideological colleague and an activist of indefatigable energy, about a unique new initiative that he and his colleagues have embarked upon. They have organised the Ganga Sanskriti Pravah Yatra, starting from Ganga Sagar in West Bengal on February 1 and going right up to Gangotri on March 6, as a mass-education and mass-mobilisation campaign to bring the issue of the river's defilement to the centre-stage of national debate. The campaign has been blessed by almost all the major jagadgurus and acharyas of various Hindu religious establishments.
Some Muslims like Dr Najmi Rehman of Allahabad are also associated with it, since they believe that, although Islam is their faith, their cultural roots are in the soil of the Ganga. The great Urdu poet Mohammed Iqbal, whom Pakistan considers its national bard, said this about the river: "Ai aab-e-rood-e-Ganga / Voh din hai yaad tujh ko / Utra teyrey kinarey tha kaarwaan hamaara (Ye waters of the Ganga, Remember you the day, When our caravan reached your banks, And settled down to stay?)"
And Kazi Nazrul Islam, the national poet of Bangladesh, wrote this ode to India's sacred rivers: "Ganga Sindhu Narmada Kaberi Yamuna oi / Bahiya chalechhe ager matan / kai re ager manus kai../mouni stabdha se Himalay temni atal mahimamay . . . (Ganga, Sindhu, Narmada and Kaveri have been flowing down the ages. The Himalaya stands in silent greatness. Where have the people who saw them in the past gone?)"
The point is, the effort to save the Ganga and other rivers is a national issue, requiring the support of every section of our society.
The first major governmental initiative in this direction was the Ganga Action Plan, launched with much fanfare by Rajiv Gandhi in April 1985. His intention was good, but the result, after spending nearly Rs 1,000 crore over 15 years, was almost nil. This is principally because it was sought to be implemented, like all other government programmes, in a bureaucratic manner, with little effort to involve the common people, religious leaders and their establishments, other political parties or, for that matter, even the Congress party's own Seva Dal. But there is no point in criticising the Congress.
<b>The moot question in today's context is: Is the BJP, which professes a nationalist ideology and draws inspiration from India's cultural and civilisational heritage, ready to adopt Nirmal Ganga (Clean Ganga) as a major commitment in its agenda for governance? Will the RSS, VHP and Hindu religious bodies channelise their enormous energies into a task dear and sacred to every Hindu around the world? </b>
Govindacharya told me that the Ganga Sanskriti Pravah Yatra is not only apolitical but also seeks the support and participation of leaders of all political parties. That is how it should be. Mother Ganga has united India. Now let all of us unite to perform our duty by her.
http://www.indianexpress.com/sunday/story/268373.html
Sudheendra Kulkarni
Posted online: Sunday, February 03, 2008 at 2313 hrs IST
I was in Rishikesh last week to spend a few days at Parmarth Niketan, an ashram run by Swami Chidanand Saraswati on the bank of the Holy Ganga. This visit added to the cherished memories of several life-transformative events associated with my previous pilgrimages to Hardwar, Rishikesh, Gangotri, Kedarnath, Badrinath, Hemkunt, all of them located in that spiritually enchanting part of India known as Dev Bhoomi, now carved out as the separate state of Uttarakhand.
The Ganga is believed to flow down from the Milky Way (Akash Ganga) and originate from the womb of the Himalayas at Gangotri. Can there be a better place to experience the eternalness and cosmic connection of India?
Jawaharlal Nehru, who was born in Prayag (Allahabad), the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati, wrote in his will: "The Ganga, especially, is the river of India, beloved of her people, round which are intertwined her memories, her hopes and fears, her songs of triumph, her victories and her defeats. She has been a symbol of India's age-long culture and civilisation, ever changing, ever flowing, and yet ever the same Ganga . . . the Ganga has been to me a symbol and a memory of the past of India, running into the present, and flowing into the great ocean of our future ..."
There is only one description in this incomparable tribute which, unfortunately, is no longer true. It is no more the " . . . the same Ganga," for both the river and the land around it are suffering from unimaginable environmental degradation. Plastic and litter have invaded its pristine environs, and the Ganga, after Hardwar, becomes increasingly maili (polluted) in the course of its onward journey. How can we Indians tolerate this disgrace to what Nehru rightly termed as a beloved symbol of our hoary culture and civilisation?
It is not just my visit to Rishikesh that sharpened my concern over this issue. Soon after my return, I learnt from K.N. Govindacharya, my friend, ideological colleague and an activist of indefatigable energy, about a unique new initiative that he and his colleagues have embarked upon. They have organised the Ganga Sanskriti Pravah Yatra, starting from Ganga Sagar in West Bengal on February 1 and going right up to Gangotri on March 6, as a mass-education and mass-mobilisation campaign to bring the issue of the river's defilement to the centre-stage of national debate. The campaign has been blessed by almost all the major jagadgurus and acharyas of various Hindu religious establishments.
Some Muslims like Dr Najmi Rehman of Allahabad are also associated with it, since they believe that, although Islam is their faith, their cultural roots are in the soil of the Ganga. The great Urdu poet Mohammed Iqbal, whom Pakistan considers its national bard, said this about the river: "Ai aab-e-rood-e-Ganga / Voh din hai yaad tujh ko / Utra teyrey kinarey tha kaarwaan hamaara (Ye waters of the Ganga, Remember you the day, When our caravan reached your banks, And settled down to stay?)"
And Kazi Nazrul Islam, the national poet of Bangladesh, wrote this ode to India's sacred rivers: "Ganga Sindhu Narmada Kaberi Yamuna oi / Bahiya chalechhe ager matan / kai re ager manus kai../mouni stabdha se Himalay temni atal mahimamay . . . (Ganga, Sindhu, Narmada and Kaveri have been flowing down the ages. The Himalaya stands in silent greatness. Where have the people who saw them in the past gone?)"
The point is, the effort to save the Ganga and other rivers is a national issue, requiring the support of every section of our society.
The first major governmental initiative in this direction was the Ganga Action Plan, launched with much fanfare by Rajiv Gandhi in April 1985. His intention was good, but the result, after spending nearly Rs 1,000 crore over 15 years, was almost nil. This is principally because it was sought to be implemented, like all other government programmes, in a bureaucratic manner, with little effort to involve the common people, religious leaders and their establishments, other political parties or, for that matter, even the Congress party's own Seva Dal. But there is no point in criticising the Congress.
<b>The moot question in today's context is: Is the BJP, which professes a nationalist ideology and draws inspiration from India's cultural and civilisational heritage, ready to adopt Nirmal Ganga (Clean Ganga) as a major commitment in its agenda for governance? Will the RSS, VHP and Hindu religious bodies channelise their enormous energies into a task dear and sacred to every Hindu around the world? </b>
Govindacharya told me that the Ganga Sanskriti Pravah Yatra is not only apolitical but also seeks the support and participation of leaders of all political parties. That is how it should be. Mother Ganga has united India. Now let all of us unite to perform our duty by her.
http://www.indianexpress.com/sunday/story/268373.html